Events

For your chance to win a stunning free hair cut in one of Sydney's mid priced, below parr barber shops, just spot the diff-hair-ence between the right side of Andrew's head, and the left side, after a recent trip to the girl who forgot to listen in hair school.

Left side

Right side

To enter, simply study the 2 photo's to "spot the diffhairence" and send your answer in the form of a blog message, with the title "I wish I'd gone to Tony & Guys" by 5pm on the 22nd May 2008. Correct answers will be put into a hat and one (questionably) lucky winner will win a free do FROM THE SAME SALON frequented by Andyb! Terms and conditions apply, see below:

Terms & Conditions

1. The winner will receive one Aus$15 voucher, to be used ONLY at the salon where Andyb's hair was cut. This entitles the winner to receive a free "flat top". Alternatively the winner can part exchange the voucher for a "crew cut" (Aus$20) or upgrade further to the Andyb experience, a "scissor cut" (price Aus$25).
2. The competition promoter cannot guarantee the same hair stylist; in the event of another stylist, the promoter guarantees a cut of similar or worse quality.
3. In relation to point (2), the winner uses the voucher at his/her own risk. A dislaimer will need to be signed prior to receiving the voucher, waiving all promoter responsibility. Ultimate responsibilty for hair state, post-cut, lies with the competition winner.
4. The prize does not include transport costs to/from Sydney. The winner must find their own way to Sydney.
5. The competition is subject to Andyb being able to remove the hat (needed to select a winner) from his head by the 22nd May 2008 AND is subject to Andyb remembering the name of the salon in Sydney. Hence, promoters may relinquish the prize, and/or terminate the competition at any time, without prior or post notice to competition entrants.
6. The promoters reserve the right to use entrants' profiles for future promotional advertisements

Bolivian transport seems to turn into chaos around carnival time. After arriving in the border town of Villazon, it was impossible to get on to the train as planned, so we had to settle for a bone shaker bus ride. Andrew is thinking of studying the average life expectancy of Bolivian bus passengers compared to Bolivians who use other forms of transport! Part of the problem appears to be that the driver fails to slow down at appropriate times, choosing instead to us the horn as a break. During our trip (we sat on the middle back seats of the bus - with families at our feet in the aisle) we witnessed a collapsed bridge, so the bus had to drive down a banking and through the river. This was done with a bus load of passengers - including us. We also saw a bus that was hanging precariously on to the road, half tipped over. The passengers managed to hoist it back on to the road with ropes. We later heard, that because buses fill up so quickly, and because it is often their only means of transport available, that aisle tickets are sold (for the same price as seats) and when these are all gone, Bolivians have been known to travel in the luggage hold!! We finally arrived in Oruro at midnight, and felt truly baptised into the world of Bolivian buses.

We loved throwing water bombs and spraying foam at unsuspecting kids in Oruro, for 3 days. This is not illegal, infact it is actively encouraged during carnival! Lisa even went to spray a child, but (out of character) upon realising it was crying, turned away. However, the mother insisted that the child was sprayed - so she obliged. It was more fun having water fights with the children because the adults took it too seriously. We met "competetive dad" with whom we had a full on water fight. Later, a friend who we were with, Neil, was unharmed, minding his own business, when "competitive dad" ambushed him with the rest of his family!

Neil comes off worse

When Lisa wasn't making children cry, we sat in the seats and watched the colourful procession go by. On the Saturday, the Diablada ceremony took place. This pays tribute to the patroness of miners and Pachamama (earth mother). The Diablada was originally performed by the indigenous miners, but now a number of guilds take part in the procession, from all over Bolivia. This festival is known for it's imaginative costumes, and we certainly saw some sights. Not least, the drunken band players, who stagger on through the procession, playing out of tune. This happens as early as eleven in the morning.

Carnival takes it's toll!

Less fun was the hotel that we stayed in, although we couldn't complain - we only paid $50 each, for the 3 nights of carnival. Lisa said she was going to have t-shirts made up "we survived Hotel America", Neil said "if Carlsberg made hotels...."

Fancy a shower?

We were advised by the good people of the "South American Footprints Guide" not to miss the puppet show in Paraty. Even after being robbed by Dick (the taxi man) and getting soaked to the skin trying to find the theatre - they were right. The puppet show has been going since 1971 (good year) and it started in New York before settling in the early 80´s in Paraty. The current show started in 1996 and celebrates (what the company considers) the finest sketches from the previous shows it has performed over the years.

The show (which is for 14 year olds and over) deals with such thought provoking subjects as suicide and has received acclaim from no other than Stephen of the "New York Times" who stated that "at the end of the performance one is left with a sense that the puppets are more human than humans" or some such...We think secretly that Stephen may have enjoyed a whiskey or two before the show.

However, the Bruntons were also equally enamoured by the show. Unfortunately (being Northern Oiks who lack the ability to interpret high brow culture) it was for a very different reason. Early on, before the show had begun, Lisab started to get that giggling feeling - and warned Andyb that the show may provoke tears. This was not helped by Andyb shouting "I´m blind" (much louder than he should have) as the theatre dimmed it´s lights to leave us in complete darkness in anticipation of the first sketch.

The other reason for the Brunton´s tittering was that unlike previous puppet shows encountered (lets face it - not many) whereby the puppets are manipulated by strings - these puppets are hand manipulated. So, despite the company´s best efforts to disguise the pupeteers (by dressing them top to toe in black) they are still very visible. In the first sketch, which consists of an old man playing his violin, the women pupeteers were very noticable. However, in other sketches, they were less so. In the beginning however, this had Lisab guffawing, having to stiffle her laughter by stuffing half a pashmina into her gob and pegging her nose. Attempts at covering it over with coughing worked quite well.

The raison détre of the show culminated in the final sketch. This portrayed a masturbating (no kidding) female puppet. Unlike the other sketches that were in silence (except for the background music) this was accompanied by adult noises made by the female pupeteers (a la "When Harry met Sally"). The female puppet´s belly then began to swell (to signify pregancy) and as the pupeteer removed her gloves to take on a midwifery role - out popped (your thinking baby, so were we - we´d be wrong) a chiffon scarf. We felt that this would have left the 14 year old catholic girls in the audience very confused - it definitely had us scratching our heads! This caused more hilarity from audience members (and this time not just from the Brunton clan).

Fun was had by all. You had to be there really - and if your thinking of going to Paraty - take Footprints´advice and don´t miss it. There was certainly lots of giggling reliving moments as we walked home (couldn´t afford another taxi ride) and the rain mattered less because of it.

We don´t wish to extract the son of Joe Jackson out of the puppet show - instead we think that it can be enjoyed on many levels - that of Stephen from the New York Times or on an ignorant Brunton level. Also, the puppets and stage scenery are very well crafted and interesting in themselves - the best one hour we spent in Paraty!

These are some piccies of rain soaked Paraty

Went to watch Flamengo one of the big four Rio sides play against Rolandinho´s old side Gremio, a crucial match in the run in to Brazilian championship. Again used the excellent tour company ¨be a local¨ charging only 50 reais each (around £14) included pick up and drop off from the hostel and tickets for the match, right in the middle of the Flamengo supporters. The atmosphere is something to experience even if you dont´t like football, full of singing and the sounds of the samba made your hairs stand up on the back of your neck. The home supporters broke into a song which was very tuneful and infectious, it roughly translated to Mengo i will always follow you - you will forever be in my heart (hopefully to be heard on the video in portugese). The match started slow (too much at stake) but eventually panned out into a very exciting game if you were a Flamengo fan - and we were. The score - Flamengo 2 - Gremio 0 made it a very enjoyable night - mengo i will always follow you..

This guy walked around the football field for all of half time doing his kick ups.